Storage units, garages, aircraft hangars, warehouses, portions of data centers and a host of other facilities that are used more so for housing goods and equipment than for human activity are often left without any climate control capabilities. That is, as a matter of economic practicality, there is generally no need to outfit a storage unit for housing folding chairs and tables with air conditioning. Rather, the labor and expense of installing and running such equipment can often be completely avoided depending on the types of goods and equipment that are to be housed by the facility.
In many cases, however, the goods and equipment that are to be housed may require a degree of climate control. For example, climate control storage units are often preferred for goods such as electronic storage media, film, photographs, musical instruments, medication, cosmetics, items of leather, art, antiques and other articles that the owner may be concerned about being damaged by excessive temperatures.
Generally speaking, the term “climate control”, at least as applied to storage units, does not mean that the climate controlled storage unit will be kept consistently at a predetermined temperature. That is, instead of setting a thermostat of the facility at 75°, a much wider range of temperatures is utilized. For example, a range of between about 55° and 85° may be maintained with heating not being applied until temperatures fall below 55° and air conditioning remaining off until the temperature in the facility goes above 85°. In this way, the operator of the facility incurs the expense of equipment installation and maintenance. However, the expense of actually operating the equipment may be kept to a minimum. Indeed, depending on the area of the country and time of year, the equipment may be off throughout the majority of each day's diurnal cycle.
In spite of the likely cost savings to operators from utilizing such a wide range of climate control, customers generally do not feel the same degree of economic benefit. Rather, depending on the particular region and market, climate controlled storage units may rent at a price of between 50% to 100% or more per square foot than corresponding storage units that lack climate control. Of course, this far exceeds the added cost to the operator of providing the climate control.
In order to avoid these added climate control expenses, customers and competing non-climate control storage facilities often undertake alternative efforts to minimize the degree of temperature extremes to which stored goods may be exposed. For example, wood pallets may be placed on the floor to keep goods from constant contact with a concrete floor of the unit. Added care may be taken to ensure weather stripping around doors is not cracked. Additionally, radiant foil-type barriers may be secured to the ceilings of the units to reflect infrared light away. In fact, operators may even go so far as to install a suspended ceiling at a location below the radiant barrier to accommodate insulation, creating an attic space similar to that found in structures meant for human habitation.
Unfortunately, in spite of all of these efforts, there is no practical way to ensure that a non-climate controlled facility will perform as effectively as a climate controlled facility on a day by day basis. By way of specific example, at some point in the summer, in the southern part of the United States, candles stored in a non-climate controlled facility lacking air conditioning will melt no matter how much climate related retrofitting efforts have been undertaken. Without air conditioning, the unit will exceed 85°.